Immigration Marchers Riot In LA

And so it begins. This is the utterly predictable result of allowing our country to be invaded by people with no respect for our country, our laws or our traditions. It is the utterly predictable result of implicitly telling them they are not subject to our laws. Like spoiled children, they react with violence and tantrums when their wishes are not granted. I would hate to be a police officer in LA or any other big city with a huge immigrant population. I would also hate to be a homeowner there.

Just as the residents of Washington, DC learned during the 1968 riots, when the dominant local political group riots, the government is not going to send in the police or National Guard to control them. Instead, they will issue press releases about how concerned they are about police violence and how property losses are never worth hurting people. The fact is, all our liberties are founded on protection of private property. When the government forfeits that responsibility, they forfeit the right to govern. We might as well live in Venezuela, which apparently the citizens of LA are close to doing already.

LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2007 - A day of mostly calm immigration rallies around the nation ended with a clash in Los Angeles where officers fired rubber bullets and used batons against demonstrators. Police promised to review the use of force.

Several people, including about a dozen officers, were hurt during skirmishes at MacArthur Park west of downtown late Tuesday. About 10 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries including cuts, authorities said. None of the injuries was believed to be serious.

At least one person was arrested, Officer Mike Lopez said late Tuesday.

May Day marches in Los Angeles brought out about 25,000 people, only a fraction of the 650,000 who rallied last year. Turnout nationwide was also light compared with a year ago.

Organizers said fear about raids and frustration that the marches haven't pushed Congress to pass reform kept many people at home. They said those who did march felt a sense of urgency to keep immigration reform from being overshadowed by the 2008 presidential elections.

The clash at MacArthur Park started after 6 p.m. when police tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Authorities said several people of the few thousand still at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers, who fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.

"(Police) started moving in and forcing them out of the park, people with children, strollers," said Angela Sambrano, director of the Central American Resource Center.

Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the trouble was instigated by "a group of anarchists, not associated with the rally." She also criticized the police response, saying the rubber bullets were fired on a peaceful crowd with little warning.

Police Chief William Bratton said "certain elements of the crowd" started the disturbance, but the "vast, vast majority of the people who were here were behaving appropriately."

Late Tuesday he promised an investigation to "determine if the use of force was appropriate."

In an interview early Wednesday with KNX radio, Bratton said "some of what I've seen as chief of the department does not look appropriate." The department said it would review the incident at a news conference later Wednesday.

The Radio and Television News Association of Southern California called for an investigation into "violent treatment of journalists."

"There is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers," an RTNA statement said.

Spanish-language TV station Telemundo said one of its reporters and three camera operators had been injured and taken to the hospital by police. Fox 11 aired video of a station camerawoman apparently being struck by a baton-wielding police officer in riot gear.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was traveling in El Salvador during a trade mission, said the incident was "a most unfortunate end to a peaceful day."

Though fewer in number, protesters marched in cities from Miami to Detroit to San Antonio. Many of those waving flags, chanting, and carrying hand-painted signs said they were frustrated by what they see as little progress.

In Chicago, where more than 400,000 swarmed the streets last year, police put initial estimates at 150,000, by far the country's largest turnout.

Magda Ortiz, a 27-year-old legal resident from Mexico and mother of two, pushed through crowds on the city's lakefront with a stroller bearing a sign that read: "Bush, think about the moms. Stop the raids."

March organizers had long predicted lower turnouts, blaming stepped-up raids, frustration that Congress hasn't passed immigration reform and an effort by many groups to shift their focus from street mobilizations to citizenship and voter registration drives.

"There's no reason a pro-immigration bill can't be passed. That's one of the messages being sent today," said Chicago protester Shaun Harkin, 34, of Northern Ireland, who has lived in the United States as a legal resident for 15 years.

After last year's marches, which drew a million-plus protesters, the Senate passed a sweeping bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for many of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants. But the bill was never reconciled with the then-Republican-controlled House, and legislation has languished since last summer. Subsequent bipartisan proposals have gotten more conservative.

I am pleased to hear that telemundos crew got roughed up. I hope that police chief Bratton soon becomes yet another victim of a violent crime by an illegal alien. The govt, the employers (slave holders) who hire the aliens, and the rest of the scum in the street can go to hell.

Membership of far-right groups up 40% in last few years. Backlash coming? Hopefully.

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I really hope it doesn't come to this, but when we look at other countries that have suffered ethnic and sectarian strife, you can't depend on the government to protect you. At some point, things revert to a tribal system and you have to be part of a tribe, or gang, to survive. The left in this country is hysterical about anything characterized as a militia or right wing "hate group". At the same time, they seem to view latin and black gangs as a part of the great multiculturalistic diversity that makes us so "strong."